Better Business Bureau warns of bogus e-mails

Published 10:21 pm, Thursday, July 29, 2010

The Connecticut Better Business Bureau on Thursday issued a warning to area businesses about fake BBB "complaints" being sent to companies in states across the country, including Connecticut.

"We've been getting dozens and dozens of calls from BBB-accredited and non-BBB-accredited businesses about this," said Howard Schwartz, Connecticut BBB's communications director. "We don't know where the people's names and companies were harvested."

Businesses of all sizes have received the bogus e-mail complaint, ranging from banks and construction companies to major manufacturers and professionals. There is no indication how the e-mail addresses were collected.

The e-mail sender's address is seatac@bbb.org with the subject line "BBB Complaint Case #" followed by a nine-digit number.

The body of the e-mail claims that the recipient did not respond to a complaint filed by Jason Harlow, however, other names may be used, under the category "Contract Issues."

The goal of the e-mail is to get the recipient to click on a hyperlink with the following text: "Please click here to access the complaint."

A link in identical e-mails sent out earlier this year downloaded malware to the recipients' computers.

"Always be suspicious if it's an e-mail with a hyperlink from someone you don't know because it could be an attempt to hijack your computer," Schwartz said, adding that the police have not been contacted, but efforts are being made to track the origin of the fake complaints. "The Council of the BBB is looking into this."

BBB advises businesses that receive this e-mail to not click on any links or reply to the message, run a full virus scan on your computer if the link was clicked and delete the message from your inbox and recycle bin.

Business owners should also forward the message to phishing@council.bbb.org and contact the BBB at www.bbb.org for help in determining the veracity of complaints filed against businesses.